The Answer is No
by KyliaQuilor
Summary: Cornered by Malick or not,the answer is always no.


This is a gift fic for imperfectlyjustme, who won such a gift in the 400 Followers Oneshot Giveaway. The offered prompt was: "AU Season 4 Skyeward on the run"

I did not watch 3B. I am loosely familar with what happened in the season thanks to tumblr spoilers, but I do not know all the details.

This AU season 4 Branches off from canon near the end of Episode 3x08, after Ward was told all the details about the magic alien hydragod on the other side of the portal. You know, when AoS jumped the shark? Yeah, it goes different after that moment.

Also, while I have repeatedly expressed by distaste for the whole Daisy Namechange, I'm going to call her Daisy for the purposes of this fic because it does branch off from a point after that decision,

I apologize in advance for any excess NaCl in this fic.

* * *

"I've decided," Daisy said slowly, looking over at him from the passenger seat of their latest stolen car.

"Decided what?" Ward asked back, not taking his eyes off the deserted country road they were zooming ahead on, not a single car in sight. Especially not at 3:15 am.

"That next time you come looking for someone to help you on your one man crusade to bring down Hydra, I'm not going to volunteer to back you up," Daisy had told him this before, but it bore repeating.

"Why did you agree then?" Ward asked casually, unconcerned, playing along with her. Again. She hated it when he did that. She hated it when he did a lot of things… and she hated that she also loved it. It wasn't like things had used to be - their back and forth wasn't the same. Ward the same. She wasn't the same. And there was too much that had happened between them for it ever to be the way it had been on the bus.

It feels like a lifetime. Cliche or not, the Bus felt like a lifetime ago. Two lifetimes ago even, sometimes. She'd changed so much since she'd gotten onto that bus.

Ward? Honestly, she wasn't sure if he'd changed at all. Not really. The loyal Agent Ward wasn't the real him anymore than the man who had been working for Garrett. The first time she'd gotten a glimpse of the real him had been in that cell. And she'd turned away from it.

"Well," Daisy said, holding up one hand and starting to tick off the reasons, "there's the fact that you offered to help save Garner from the whole… Lash thing. Which you did eventually deliver on. There's the fact that you promised to stop going after May and Coulson. There's the fact that your plan really is a good one… even if it involved betraying everyone I cared about. And, of course, there's the fact that I was right to not trust the ATCU. And… well," She smirked at him, lowering her voice a little, "there's the fact that no one can make me come like you can." She made her voice just the right pitch and volume to drive him crazy, the way she sounded when they were having hot, rough sex in cheap motel rooms. Or expensive hotel rooms. Or in the back of whatever car they were 'borrowing'.

Anywhere was good.

Ward held onto the wheel tightly, shifting in his seat, and she smirked. Mission accomplished.

"That's all?" He finally asked after a long moment. "Seems a bit of a shallow list," his tone was no longer purely casual, but much more playful, bemused even.

"It really is, when I lay it out like that," Daisy agreed. "But there's the fact that we were making no progress with Hydra in S.H.I.E.L.D. And I knew Coulson couldn't bring me in no matter how hard he tried." Which was true. She was still spying on every attempt S.H.I.E.L.D. made to find her, her trojans in their computer system far more resilient than anyone, FItz included, could have ever assumed.

"Coulson't couldn't find his way out of a paper bag with a map, a compass and a chainsaw," Ward replied, rolling his eyes. "Of course he'd never be able to find you if you really ran. Which you did."

"We never agreed you had to like Coulson, or even pretend to, but we did agree you'd stop that," Daisy replied, her voice going a little cold.

The problem with loving Grant Ward was that no one else loved him. No one else even liked him.

The problem with being loved by Grant Ward was that he loved no one else. He liked no one else.

And he could be very direct and open about that dislike.

Ward let out a long sigh. "You're right. Sorry." Daisy nodded at his words and looked into the rearview mirror. She could barely see them in the distance. But she could. Lights. Racing towards them along the road. She looked over to Ward.

"How long ago did you notice them?" She asked.

"What are you-" Ward started, then he looked into the mirror. "Damnit." Daisy felt the car lurch under her as he stepped on the gas. "We do not have time for this."

Daisy blinked. "You mean I noticed the people coming at us on an empty country road, at night, before you did? That has to be a first," laughing, she opened the glove box and took out her gun, checking to see which kinds of rounds she had in it. ICERs. The question was, which ones did she need? "Which do you think it is this time? More S.H.I.E.L.D.? Hydra?" She chuckled darkly, "Oh! Maybe the FBI? I hear they're pretty pissed off at us for that bank heist back in Topeka."

"You say that like we just decided to up and rob a bank for the hell of it," Ward replied, almost pouting. "We needed what was in Malick's safety desposit box."

"Well, you did walk into the hotel room that morning asking 'have you ever wanted to rob a bank?' Kind of set the mood for the whole rest of my day."

"And your answer was yes, if I remember correctly. And that'd you'd done it before."

Daisy rolled her eyes, "draining bank accounts from a computer is not the same thing, Ward. Not as walking into the place and going for an old fashioned stick up complete with hostage negotiation, a demand for a school bus and a plane at runway. How long did you have that plan ready anyway?"

"I have robbed banks before," Ward pointed out, "For S.H.I,E.L.D. And I'm pretty sure this is Hydra we're looking at. But I suppose we'll find out. Because there's no running away from them. Ready?"

"Ready," Daisy confirmed as she handed him the gun, and with his other hand, Ward made a hard turn with the car, spinning it all the way around - Daisy held tightly onto the armrests as he spun, wondering, not for the first time, if Ward had missed his calling as a stunt racer or something, the crazy way he drove.

Well, he could have done a lot of things with his life, if he'd just had the chance. That was true for her as well.

As one, they opened their doors and dropped to the pavement, using the doors as cover. Reaching underneath her seat, Skye retrieved another gun, this also loaded with ICER rounds.

Their pursuers arrived in three black SUVs, and it wasn't until she saw the Hydra hood ornaments on them that she knew for sure who they were.

"Really?" Daisy half stood up, incredulous, "hood ornaments? What the hell guys? I thought you were supposed to be a secret organization hellbent on world domination. You really can't stay secret if you have your logo plastered onto everything."

"Skye…" Ward started, He only used her told name when he really wanted her attention. Daisy looked where he was pointing as one of the SUVs opened and three men stepped out. One of them she recognized all too well. Then the other SUVs opened and revealed more men, all wearing tactical gear and carrying heavy duty weaponry.

You would think these idiots would learn large numbers just make this easier. To a point.

"Agent Johnson. Well, Former Agent, anyway," Gideon Malick said with a chuckle. "Your inquisitive mind will get you into trouble someday. Though, from what I heard from Garrett, it did already."

"Are you working up to a point or do I just get to shoot you?" Daisy asked coldly.

"I'm here for Ward. Let us take him and you're free to go. Oh, and…" Malick pulled back his suit jacket a little. What with all the light from the various headlights around them, she could make out what he was wearing, A bomb.

"If you shoot me, or ICE me, or my heart rate in any way drops significantly enough to set off these monitors," Malick replied. "And then we all go," He smirked."There's no getting out of this. Just hand over your husband and we'll be on our way."

"You really didn't think this through, did you?" Daisy smirked. She stood up straight, half-climbing, half leaping onto the roof of their stolen car. She ignored all the guns pointed at her. "You really don't get what I can do, do you?" She held out a hand and send a wave of force in a 360 degree cirlce around her, Ward safe as he dopped and rolled under the car. Malick was hurled bodily away from his men, landing on the ground, alive and with a very fast heart rate, But all the Hydra goons had fallen to the ground and most had lost grip on theri weapons.

Felling drained, Daisy dropped to her knees, almost falling off the car roof. But she mustered enough energy to look up and raise her voice: "And for the record, I love my husband. So the answer is no."


End file.
